Abstract
Descriptivism is ‘the view that our mental relation to individual objects goes through properties of those objects’ (3)1, that is, we think about singular objects only insofar as we ascribe properties to them. The view draws from Frege the distinction between reference and sense or mode of presentation. The components of our thoughts are senses, which are modes of presentation conceived of as descriptive, i.e. as characterising an object as the only bearer of a certain property: for example ‘the morning star’ or ‘the evening star’. In contrast, Singularism says that ‘our thought is about individual objects as much as it is about properties. Objects are given to us directly, in experience’ (4). One of the main problems of Singularism comes with cases of misidentification: suppose Charles believes that Mont Blanc is 4,000 metres high; one day, he sees a mountain
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